Project Partners
by Animation Adventures
Summary: Duncan and Heather experience the worst of luck when their English teacher partners them up for a project. Knowing how much of a slacker Heather is when it comes to her homework, Duncan puts her in a situation- do her part of the project, or he'll get embarrassing stories from her parents, and spread them around the school. For BlueIce RedFire on the Total Drama Writers' Forum.
**Disclaimer: I do not own Total Drama, or anything within the Total Drama franchise, but I do own New Wawanakwa, the setting of this story.**

 **This story is part of the Total Drama Writers' Forum Spring Fic Exchange, in which I was assigned BlueIce RedFire. Happy Fic Exchange, BlueIce! Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Project Partners

The English teacher, Mr. Josh Hill, glanced at his attendance sheet as he stood in front of the classroom. Looking it over, he glanced up at his students.

"Okay, your next big assignment will be to pick a recently released book, fiction or nonfiction, and read it. After you've read it, you and a partner will be making a poster board about the book that you will present in front of the class. The board should include a brief summary of the book," he frowned sternly, "and not just the text on the back of the book. I've seen that happen every year. You do that, and I'll know you haven't actually read it." He rolled his eyes as the few troublemakers in his class snickered. "The board should also include a picture and information about the author, including a list of any other possible books they've released. I also want one typed page detailing how much you liked the book; if you didn't like it, then tell me so on that one page. Both partners will be required to type up their opinion so I know that one person didn't do all the work while the other slacked off. This project will be due in two weeks, and if I were you, I'd start and finish the book as soon as you can so you can work on the project. You can't read a book, and put a whole board together in one night. Now, will there be any questions regarding the assignment?" A hand rose up. "Yes, Tyler?"

"Uh," Tyler began to say, "if we have to write a summary of the book, then won't we be spoiling it for anybody who wants to read the book we chose?"

Mr. Hill shook his head. "Not quite. Just write a summary as best you can without spoiling important details."

Courtney raised her hand. "Just how recent does the book have to be released? The last month? The last semester?"

"Any book that's been released in the last year will do." Mr. Hill answered. "I'd also like to verbally note another requirement that's on your grading sheet which I know some of you will conveniently skim over- no cookbooks and no children's books. These books should actually have a plot, and be closer to your grade's reading level. Any other questions before I assign partners?"

Lindsay tilted her head. "You mean we aren't choosing partners this time?"

"That's right," Mr. Hill responded, "the last time I let you choose partners, I wasn't impressed with the grades you got and some of the teamwork just went horribly. I don't expect you to get along with your partner, but I do expect that you get this project done. Communicate and work things out if plans go wrong like say, someone gets sick. Now, let's assign partners." He glanced at his attendance sheet. "Courtney, you'll be with Justin."

Courtney smiled at the name of her chosen partner. "I can work with that."

"Same here." Justin said smoothly.

"Geoff, you'll partner with DJ."

Geoff pumped his fist. "Right on!"

"Sierra, you'll work with-"

"Cody?!"

"No, you'll work with Trent. Cody will be partnering with Gwen."

Sierra burst into tears while Gwen groaned. Cody discreetly pumped his fist as Trent glanced at his partner in concern.

"Katie, you'll be with Sadie-"

"EEEEEEEE!" The BFFFLs squealed, hugging each other in delight.

"Noah, you'll partner with Izzy."

Noah shrugged. "Sure, because it's not like I'm the only one who can keep her on a leash or anything."

"Owen, you'll be with Eva."

Owen meeped in fright while Eva stoically stared at the teacher.

"Bridgette, you'll be with Ezekiel. Alejandro, you'll take Lindsay. Beth, you get Tyler. Harold, you'll be working with Leshawna."

"Yes!" Harold cheered. "I've been waiting for an opportunity to work with my fair Leshawna."

Leshawna shook her head. "That boy is going to enjoy this project a little too much."

"Which leaves Duncan with Heather." The teacher concluded, lowering his sheet.

"What?!" The two partners cried out from different sides of the room.

Heather, who had been filing her nails out of boredom next to Harold, waved her nail file at Duncan. "You expect me to work with that sleaze?"

Duncan scoffed. "Hey, I'm not fond of the idea of working on a project with the prom brat either."

"At least I got votes to be on the prom court. Nobody would vote for you unless you threatened to give them a bloody nose."

"Yeah, well nobody would vote for you after you got shaved bald. How much did it sting to lose Prom Queen to Gwen? She didn't even want to be on the prom court, and yet she still beat you."

"You mention me getting shaved bald again, and I'll show all the pictures of your good side! It would be hard to keep up your bad boy image if people see you being nice!"

After that exchange, Mr. Hill finally stepped in. "Okay, that's enough out of both of you. I don't expect you to get along, but I won't have a fight break out in my classroom during school hours or on school grounds period." The bell rang, signaling the change of classes. "And there's the bell," he sighed, "start planning your projects! Don't leave it until the last minute!" He stated firmly as the students exited the classroom out into the halls of New Wawanakwa High.

* * *

Duncan threw open his locker at the end of the day, and threw his books in. He pulled out his duffel bag, and grabbed a couple textbooks and notebooks he proceeded to stuff into the bag.

"He expects me to work on this project with Heather?" He questioned rhetorically. "He might as well fail me on the project now. With Heather as my partner, there's no way it'll get done. Heather always has her partners do all the work while she sits back and gets the credit." He looked up at Geoff, who was a couple lockers over to his left. "That doesn't work for me. Nobody coasts on my work like that, and I mean nobody."

Geoff shrugged helplessly. "I wish I could help you, dude, but Mr. Hill sounded like he wasn't going to let anybody switch partners. I know he didn't say anything about it, but I just sort of think he was thinking it. The way he sounded pretty pissed off about our grades on the last project kind of seemed like a tip-off."

The delinquent groaned in aggravation. "Why did he have to pair me up with her? I would've been fine with you, DJ, Beth, or even Lindsay, but not Heather."

"I guess you just lucked out."

"Whatever, man." Duncan shut his locker, and shouldered his duffel bag. "Any idea where Heather's locker is? I'm setting the record straight before the deadline gets too close."

Geoff scratched his forehead in thought. "I think her locker is just downstairs from us."

"Thanks, I'll see you later." He turned, and went towards the nearest set of stairs, passing Brody on the way. "Hey, Brody."

"S'up, Duncan!" Brody greeted, continuing towards Geoff. "Hey, dude! After-school pizza?"

"Yeah, let's go!" Geoff nodded with a grin before frowning. "I think Duncan's gonna need some tonight."

* * *

Heather continued to complain as some unfortunate nerd had the pleasure of carrying Heather's textbooks. She loaded one book after another into his waiting arms. "So, now I have to work with that prison baby for the next two weeks. Honestly, if he was going to partner me up with anybody, he could've partnered me with someone that wasn't a wannabe Goth."

Taylor scoffed. "Oh, I totally get what you mean. Remember how I was lab partners with one of those weakling twins? Because he and his loser brother both fainted at the smell of whatever we were working on that day, I had to make my mom finish the homework we were supposed to do."

"At least your partner didn't have a criminal record."

"For your information, you have a criminal record too, except yours is unwritten." Duncan quipped as he shoved the nerd to the floor when he appeared on the scene.

Heather whirled around to scowl at him. "Um, who said you could come to my locker?"

"Oh, sorry sweetheart, didn't realize I needed an invitation." He slammed Heather's locker shut.

"What do you want?" Heather asked coldly, crossing her arms.

He mirrored her scowl with one of his own. "If you think you're just going to sit back and have me do all the work, you've got another thing coming."

The queen bee huffed, "Please, what gives you that idea?"

"Cut the crap, Heather. We've been going to school together since kindergarten. I know you. I've heard from others just how helpful you are on projects." The delinquent retorted.

"It's their word against mine. Who are you going to believe? Them?"

"Heather, you lie all the time. I know I can count on everyone else to be straight with me. You and Alejandro are the only ones that I don't trust."

"You trusted me during that camping field trip."

"Yeah," Duncan snarked, "and the next morning, Owen tells me that you and Gwen stole our map, our supplies, and ditched us in the middle of the freaking woods!"

Taylor, who had still been standing next to Heather, casually observed her complexion in a handheld mirror. Upon hearing Duncan's latest comeback, she rolled her eyes, and gave her own input. "Yeah, I can see how you wouldn't trust someone after that."

Heather whipped her head around to glare at her fellow popular girl. "Don't you have a mother to boss around?"

Taylor put away her mirror, and shrugged. "I was just saying." She walked off, leaving the two project partners alone.

Heather turned back to Duncan as he spoke again, "Here's the deal. Tomorrow, you and I are going into the school library to pick out a book, and then we're both going to read the book over the next week. You supply the poster board, research the author, and type your opinion of the book. I'll put the board together, and type my opinion along with the summary."

"And if I say no?"

He smirked darkly. "Bad idea. If you refuse to help with the project, I'll go to your parents, ask them for all the embarrassing stories they have about you, and circulate those stories all over the school. Your reputation as a popular girl will totally crash."

Heather's eyes widened. "You can't do that! I just got my popularity back not that long ago."

"Then I guess we have a deal." Duncan held out a hand.

Heather looked like she wanted to argue, but with what he planned to do, she couldn't risk her popularity again. "Fine." She shook his hand.

"Glad we reached an agreement." He turned, and began to walk away.

"Hey, why can't we go into the library today?" Heather asked.

"Can't say. That would give you leverage to use against me." He answered with a smirk.

* * *

The moment the final bell rang the next day, Heather ducked out of class to avoid her popular peers. She was not going to let them see her associating herself with him; if he had come to her rather her going to him, that would be a different story. Not only would that damage her popularity status, it would also start spreading rumors that something was going on between them, and that was one of the last things she wanted there to be rumors floating around about.

She walked briskly towards the school library. She didn't pay any attention to Amy's twin sister hanging out with the outdoors girl and the zombie freak, Sierra gossiping with the one overweight girl who constantly told bad lies, or the Goth couple in a dark corner of the halls with a rabbit in the boy's backpack. All three groups noticed her abnormal behavior, but she did not acknowledge their looks of confusion.

Outside the library entrance, Duncan whistled a tune as he counted a wad of bills in his hand. When he noticed Heather coming towards him, he pocketed the money and put on his business face. "About time you showed up, I was wondering if I should drive over to your house and ask for those stories."

"My class isn't as close to the library as yours so stuff it. Let's just get this over with. My friends and I have important shopping to do this afternoon." Heather complained.

Duncan gave a mock bow, and gestured to the entrance. "After you, gorgeous."

Heather mimicked gagging, but entered the library nonetheless. Duncan followed her, and the two walked past the front desk to the bookshelves past the computers.

"I hope you're interested in fiction because I hate nonfiction. It's all just stuff that I could easily learn in another class." Duncan remarked.

"Luckily for you, I have no interest in nonfiction either. It's boring. At least fiction can be entertaining." Heather replied without sending a glance his way.

"Would you look at that? We actually have something in common. I was beginning to think that I had something in common with everyone but you."

Heather scoffed. "Please, what could you have in common with everyone else?"

"The fact that we hate you, duh."

The pair heard a shushing sound from the front of the room.

"For your information, not everyone hates me. My friends like me." She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Taylor and Amy are brats with swelled heads that only like hanging out with you because of your money. They don't count." The delinquent shot back.

"Well, there's still Harold."

Duncan snorted. "Harold's a wuss, and the only reason you hung out with him that one time was because nobody else would team up with either of you. He doesn't count either."

"Hey! Harold's the only one who listened to me and was actually nice to me after I lost my hair. He so does count."

"Sure, gorgeous, whatever helps you sleep at night." He taunted.

Another sound of shushing came from the front of the library.

Looking back at Duncan after briefly looking in the direction of the front desk, Heather hissed quietly, "Let's just find a stupid book. And stop calling me gorgeous, you sleaze."

Duncan responded with a smug smile. "I thought you'd appreciate someone calling you gorgeous, gorgeous."

"Not when it's someone like you. Now, shut up, and let's pick out a book." She marched away in a tranquil fury.

* * *

A short time later, they both left the library with a copy of their chosen book in hand.

Heather scowled to herself. "Ugh, there goes fifteen minutes of my life I'll never get back."

Duncan said, "Hey, if you weren't so picky we'd have been out of there in less than five."

"Excuse me for wanting a book that wasn't fully lame!" She retorted.

"At least now we have a book." Duncan retorted, dropping his copy into his duffel bag. "Was that honestly so hard to do?"

"With you around, yes." Heather answered promptly. She shoved her copy into her bag, and turned away from her partner. "Now, if you'll excuse me. I have stuff to do." Holding her head high, the queen bee strutted away, refusing to be seen socializing with the likes of her project partner.

Duncan watched her leave, and let out a quick laugh. "She's kind of hot when she stomps away like that." Sticking his hands in his pockets, he went off in the opposite direction.

* * *

Friday and Saturday came and went, and while Heather sat in her room on Saturday night reading a magazine, her cellphone rang. She picked up her phone, looked at the number, and gagged. Despite how she felt about the caller, she answered anyway.

"What?" She said rudely.

"Have you started the book yet? I figured after dealing with me two days straight, I figured you'd want two days of space before I bugged you about it." Duncan replied on the other end.

Heather rolled her eyes, and asked, "Have you started it?"

"Oh yeah, started it last night. I read like three chapters. I'm happy that the chapters were as short as they were. Any longer, and I'd have fallen asleep from boredom." He paused. "Now about you, have you started it?"

"No, I haven't."

"What? Why not?"

"Because I've been busy."

"Doing what?"

"Having a social life." Heather answered. "I guess you wouldn't know anything about that since you always seem to be in some kind of trouble."

"You've got to be kidding me." Duncan snarled on the other end. "I have a social life, and I actually made time to do this. I put off poker night with the guys for this. Poker night! Are you so stuck in your high and mighty role that you fail to realize that this project has big impact on our grades? The chapters in this book aren't even that long, Heather!"

Heather narrowed her eyes. "Cry me a river, Duncan! I've always started projects a few days into the game, and I still do fine."

"That's because you've always either got a nerd doing your work for you, or your project partner has already started without you and pulls your weight since you obviously never will." The delinquent snapped.

"I'm a queen, Duncan. I'm a delegator. I delegate jobs to other people, it's what I do," Heather said.

They both went quiet for what seemed like an eternity, daring each other to be the next to speak.

Duncan broke first.

"Excuse me, I've got another call to make. We're not done." He hung up, and she pulled her phone away from her ear.

Heather scoffed. "Please, we are so done with this conversation."

She looked up when she heard her mother's cellphone down the hall go off. From where she sat on her bed, she watched as her mother left the bathroom, and went to answer it.

"Hello?" Heather's mother greeted. "Oh, I remember you. You're that one boy with the green mohawk, right?"

Heather's eyes went wide, and she darted off her bed. "Mom, don't-!"

"Childhood stories about Heather? Sure, I've got plenty of those. This one time when she was eight, she-" Heather's mother yelped when Heather nearly tackled her.

Quickly while her mother was caught off-guard, Heather snatched the phone. "Wrong number!" She ended the call, and panted. Whipping around, she glared at her mother. "Mom, what the heck?!"

"Dear, what was that all about?" Heather's mother inquired.

"Mom, you were talking to Duncan! Duncan! You were going to tell him embarrassing stories that he could use against me!" Heather shouted.

Heather's mother tilted her head curiously. "I didn't think the story I was just about to tell him was embarrassing."

"It's embarrassing to me!" Her daughter retorted, and handed her mother her phone back. "Until I say otherwise, do not take calls from Duncan." Her order given, Heather stalked back to her room in frustration. Once she was in her room, she slammed the door shut.

Heather's mother stared at the door, and uttered, "Huh."

The door to her bedroom opened, and Heather's father poked his head out. "What happened? Something wrong with Heather Feather?"

His wife gave a dismissive wave of her hand. "Oh, it was nothing. Just her and a friend having teen issues."

Back in the safety of her room, Heather snatched up her phone, and dialed Duncan's number. He immediately picked up.

"Told you we weren't done with this conversation." He told her smugly over the phone.

"How did you even get my mom's number?" Heather demanded. "Unless you have a lot of weird contacts in your phone, I don't know how else."

"Stopped by your house yesterday while you were at Amy's. Your brother was home, and he gave it to me. He said it was one of his ways to get back at you for the baby photo collage you snuck into his classroom."

Heather gnashed her teeth. "I am going to throttle that little insect!"

"Sure, you do that," Duncan said casually. "Here's a little word of advice- read the book. Just so you know each chapter is something like twenty pages, and the table of contents says there's like twenty-five." The call ended, and Heather's phone went silent.

The queen bee growled quietly, lowering her phone once more. She glanced at her backpack sitting on her vanity stool. With a sigh and a roll of her eyes, she got off her bed, and went over to her backpack. She pulled out her copy of the book she and Duncan had chosen, and flopped back onto her bed. Turning it open to the first page, she began to read.

* * *

While in her math class on Monday, Heather found herself rather uninterested in the lesson. The teacher babbled on about right triangles and the sine, cosine, and tangent functions, and Heather took out her phone while their back was turned.

Making sure that her phone was mute, Heather scrolled through her contacts with the knowledge of who wouldn't answer at this time of day, and who had their phone taken away already. Scrolling back and forth, she eventually landed on Duncan. She froze.

Had she really been reduced to texting him during class hours?

She chanced a glance up at the teacher, whose back was still to the class, and then looked back down at the time displayed on her phone.

Crap, she had another thirty minutes left.

Her fingers flittered over her phone screen.

'Hey, answer if you care enough to respond. Bored in math, no one else to text.'

She sent the text, and quickly hid her phone when she saw the teacher beginning to turn around out of the corner of her eye.

The teacher said some stuff, and then returned to making notes and drawings on the whiteboard. Heather took out her phone again, and saw that she had gotten a message.

'First you call me, and now you text me during class? I'm starting to think you have a thing for me.'

The girl frowned, and typed out a response. 'As if, you sleaze. Like I said, I'm bored.'

'Sure you are, gorgeous.'

Heather rolled her eyes. 'How far in the book are you now? I'm at chapter seven.'

She waited a few minutes, and then a reply came.

'Sorry for the wait, the teach handed out a worksheet. I'm at seven too.'

'Honestly, that fifth chapter was lame. I mean, there's no way that would work with a ukulele and hockey puck.'

'Yeah, that was pretty stupid. Anyway, what'd you think of that one girl? She reminded me of you.'

After reading that latest response, Heather knew exactly who he was talking about. Her fingers zipped over her phone keys.

'She was alright. Could be a little more demanding.'

They went back and forth like that for a little bit, exchanging opinions on what they had read so far.

When there were only five minutes left in class, Heather was too focused on her phone screen to see the hand reaching for it until it was too late.

Heather grasped at air when it was taken from her. She looked up with a scowl. "Hey!"

The teacher held up the phone.

"You'll get this back at the end of the week." He told her.

"But I was doing school-related stuff! I was sharing my opinion on a book I'm reading with my project partner in another class! Check the messages!" Heather argued.

"That's all well and good, but this is math class, not English." The teacher took one minute out of the remaining four to walk over to his desk, and put the phone away in a locked drawer.

The queen bee groaned in annoyance, and slumped over her desk.

* * *

The end of the day came slower than usual, and Heather did all she could to avoid her friends finding out that her phone had been confiscated. When the final bell rang, Heather left her last class, and went to find Duncan.

She found him outside at the football field, where he, along with Geoff and Brody, were watching DJ in his spring football practice.

Duncan had seen her approach, and he looked up at her with a smirk.

"Hey, gorgeous! What happened to our text chat? Couldn't handle my last zinger?" He joked.

"We need to talk, like now." She commanded.

The delinquent shrugged. "Sure," he turned to Geoff and Brody, "I'll be back in a few." He got up from the bleachers, and followed Heather up to a corner.

"So," he prodded, "what do we need to talk about?"

"I require your services," Heather answered, "the reason I didn't respond to the last message was because my teacher confiscated my phone."

Duncan nodded in realization. "Ah, and you need me to get it for you why?"

"The drawer my teacher put it in is one of the drawers that lock. I need you to get it out. Without my phone, I can't stay on top of my social game."

"What's in this job for me?" He challenged.

"I'll read to chapter fifteen tonight if you get my phone back." She offered.

Duncan raised an eyebrow. "You'd read seven or eight chapters in one night for a phone?"

"Yes," Heather nodded, "and this surprises you why?"

Duncan bobbed his head in concession. "Good point, I'm in." His eyes narrowed, and he jabbed a finger at her. "But you better hold up your end of the deal." He hopped down the bleachers to Geoff and Brody. "Hey, I've got a job to do. Catch you guys tomorrow."

The two boys bid him farewell, and Duncan followed Heather back inside the school. She guided him to her math classroom, and as expected, the room was locked. Heather watched for faculty while Duncan got to work picking the lock.

It was quick, and easy. They slipped inside, and Heather moved to turn on the lights, but Duncan stopped her before she could, warning her that the lights would be a sign that someone was up to no good.

In the darkness, they snuck over to the desk, and found the locked drawer. Heather crouched beside Duncan as he picked it. After a few moments of poking around, they heard a soft click.

Duncan pulled open the drawer, and took his phone out from his pocket. He turned it on, and a small light shone on the open drawer.

"I thought you said no lights! Lights draw attention!" Heather hissed in the delinquent's ear.

"No, I meant that we shouldn't turn on the classroom lights. Phone lights aren't that bright." Duncan corrected.

Heather quickly identified and snatched her phone. As she looked it over, and checked her messages, Duncan glanced in the drawer again.

"Huh," he hummed in thought, "looks like a lot of stuff's been confiscated. You getting your phone taken for a week was a minor offense, but I bet the rest of this stuff has been confiscated for longer. I bet I could sell this stuff back to the students they belong to."

Putting down his duffel bag, he opened it up, and began to transfer the items from the drawer.

"You do know that the more stuff you steal, the bigger trouble you'll be in if they catch you, right?" Heather pointed out.

"I won't get in trouble. Besides, a guy's got to make spending money somehow." Duncan responded, and stuffed the last confiscated item into his bag. Cinching it up, he shouldered the bag. "Let's get out of here."

They locked both the drawer and the classroom door on their way out, and began heading for the front exit.

"Okay, I got your phone back so don't forget to read through chapter fifteen." He reminded her.

"I won't," Heather rolled her eyes. "But thanks for helping me get it anyway. I guess you aren't the worst person in the world. Trust me, you're one of the worse, but not the worst."

"I suppose I can take that as a compliment?" Duncan commented.

Heather gave him a sideways look. "You better. That's the only compliment you're going to get from me."

"Suuure it is."

The girl scoffed. "Sleaze…"

"Prom brat." He quipped.

The pair went out the front door of the school, where students were still hanging around for their rides, and went their separate ways.

* * *

The next night, Heather was painting her toenails when her phone rang. She picked it up, and wedged it between her shoulder and her cheek. "Hello?"

"Hey, you do through fifteen like you said you would?" Duncan questioned.

"Yeah, I did, and after that big of a reading session, I'm taking a break tonight. Where are you at?"

"Almost at fifteen. Figured if I was going to keep hounding you about this, I might as well keep up so I don't look like a hypocrite."

Heather nodded. "Hypocrites do tend to have a bad image."

"Yes, they definitely do. I mean, look at Courtney." Heather actually laughed at his comment. He was right on that part. "So, what'd you think of the one guy and his girlfriend? The parents' bedroom is one of the last places you want to be caught making out."

"Those two were about as cliché as Sundown. Ugh, they were so cheesy I wanted to barf. What kind of book did we even choose?" She asked.

Heather could sense Duncan was smirking on the other end. "Hey, you were the one that was picky about what we read."

"Whatever." The queen bee rolled her eyes. "What about chapter twelve? I'm no geek, but I'm pretty sure that trampolines shouldn't be used like that."

The two went back and forth for a while, talking about everything they had read so far. When they found a subject they had common opinions on, they grew to like each other more and hate each other less.

* * *

The next week after that was a blur. The two of them finished the book on the weekend, despite Duncan saying that they should've finished it by the Wednesday or Thursday prior. Over the weekend, both partners did as they planned. Duncan summarized the book, and typed up his opinion while Heather researched the author and typed up her opinion as well. As Heather did her research, she ordered her father to go out and get her a poster board. By the time she was halfway done with her research, he was back with a light blue board in tow.

Presentation day was Wednesday, and there were only two days left on the project.

After Duncan was unable to go to her house on Monday night due to what he called 'business', he showed up on her doorstep Tuesday night to put the board together.

"I'll admit, working with you hasn't been so bad." Duncan said while they walked up the stairs to Heather's bedroom.

"Same to you." Heather replied. "Plus, with you hounding me, I actually got stuff done on time. This partnership wasn't the worst I've ever had."

"Same, I can think of a few other partnerships that were worse than this." He glanced at her. "Hey, you know, after high school you aren't going to be able to rely on somebody else doing the work for you, right?"

Heather sighed. "Yeah, I do. College is different from regular old school. When I get there, I won't have my power anymore."

"And that's why you've got to learn to do stuff on your own." He told her. "When you get some kind of company executive position, then you can boss people around."

"That will be nice." Heather admitted. "So, what are you doing after high school?"

Duncan shrugged. "I don't really know yet. We still have two years before graduation so I think I'll have something figured out by then."

"I don't really know what I'll do yet either. Maybe I'll get a job with a fashion company, or a magazine." She stated.

"Well, if you end up in either of those jobs, I'm sure you'll be good at it."

"Thanks, and I'm sure whatever you'll do you'll be great at too."

They reached Heather's room, and just as they entered, their eyes went wide.

In Heather's room was Heather's little brother Damien, along with chunks of poster board.

Heather glared at Damien. "Damien, what did you do?!"

"Ruined your board, duh!" Damien retorted, blowing a raspberry for good measure. "I consider that part two of my revenge. Good luck with getting a good grade on your project now." He laughed, walking out past his sister and her project partner.

Duncan grabbed the kid by his shirt. "You little turdball, we needed that board!"

Damien held up his hands helplessly. "Hey, you shouldn't have left your board unguarded then. Now let me go before I call for my mom and dad."

Scowling at the boy, Duncan reluctantly released him. Once his feet were back on the floor, Damien walked off with a sarcastic wave of his hand back towards the two teenagers.

"Now what do we do?" Heather inquired to her partner. "The office supplies store must be closed by now, and we need a poster board for the project."

Duncan thought for a moment, and snapped his fingers. "I've got it!"

"What? What is it?"

Duncan smiled at Heather. "Harold."

* * *

Across the neighborhood, Harold sat at his computer in his room, playing a video game. As he guided his character to flip a switch, he heard the doorbell ring and his mother called up, "Harold, you've got visitors!"

Befuddled, Harold paused his game, and went down to answer the door. He took the door from his mother, and looked outside to see, "Heather? Duncan? What are you two doing here?"

"Long story short- a twerp smashed our board, and the store is closed so we came here. You wouldn't happen to have extra poster boards laying around, would you?" Duncan explained.

Harold narrowed his eyes, and leaned against the doorframe. "Why should I give you one of my extra boards?"

Duncan held up a couple of bills. "We'll give you twenty bucks."

Harold scoffed. "Oh, I'm going to need something more than that."

"How about twenty bucks and a bloody nose?" Duncan held up a fist, growling.

"Duncan!" Heather reprimanded, and forced the fist down. She turned towards Harold. "How about twenty bucks, a guarantee that none of the bullies can give you a wedgie for the next two weeks, and a favor to be called in at a later date?"

"Thirty dollars, a guarantee of no wedgies for three weeks, and two favors." Harold argued.

"Deal." Heather nodded, and held out a hand for Harold to shake.

Harold shook her hand, and went to go fetch a board.

"Wha- three weeks without giving him a wedgie? Two favors? You've gotta be kidding me!" The delinquent griped. "I can shell out the thirty bucks, but seriously?"

"Hey, we need that board. This whole time, you've been pressuring me to not screw this up, and now I'm not going to let you screw this up last minute because you don't want to owe a nerd some favors." Heather snarled, jabbing her finger at his chest. "You better keep your word."

Duncan sighed. "Fine, but I won't like it."

Harold returned with a board that matched the previous one, and gave it to Heather while Duncan handed over the money. "Pleasure doing business with you." The nerd told them.

"Wasn't much of a pleasure." Duncan grumbled.

The nerd closed his front door, and Duncan and Heather made their way to Duncan's car. They put the board in the trunk, and drove away.

"Okay, we are definitely not going back to my house. Damien will most likely trash it again if we do." Heather informed her partner.

Duncan snorted. "Fine, but you're getting a ride home from someone else. I am not driving back to your place once we finish the project."

Heather took out her phone, and checked the time. "If we can get the board together by nine thirty, my dad can come get me from your house."

* * *

The pair made quick work of their board. They briefly argued over the setup, but everything eventually found its place, and Duncan stashed the board underneath his bed while Heather's father picked her up. The next day, Duncan brought the board in his car, and they presented to the class. After they were done, they put the board on top of a growing pile of boards. The bell rang at the end of the class period, and the students filed out into the school halls.

Heather sighed in relief. "Finally, that's over with."

"Yeah, it is. I can't wait to return this stupid book to the library." Duncan agreed.

Heather glanced at him. "Same. We better get a good grade on that project."

Duncan smirked. "I bet we will. I mean, we did pretty well together. Our board was one of the better looking ones."

"Yeah, I guess it was. Nice job on the board, sleaze."

"Same to you… gorgeous."

The End

 **Once again, BlueIce, I hope you liked it!**


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